


The one who has nothing

by hoangkhanhlinh



Category: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
Genre: John Uskglass being an insufferable asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 21:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13772805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoangkhanhlinh/pseuds/hoangkhanhlinh
Summary: “There are many versions of the latter (some of them quite vulgar); it tells how Uskglass almost lost his heart, his kingdoms and his power to a common Cornish witch.” – Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke.





	The one who has nothing

**Author's Note:**

> It's my take on the footnote about that folk tale. I hope that Susanna Clarke will come round soon to give us her version of the story. I heard that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is sometimes incurable. In the meantime, I will give you mine.

Before she met him, she heard the croaking of a raven. She looked to the ceiling and saw a flitting motion there. A black feather fell down.

Following the feather with her eyes, she saw the figure of a man. It was a thin and slight figure, being almost submerged in the darkness because both hair and clothes were black; only his face was gleaming white. He was looking at her; the shadow of the flame was on his face, rendering it unreadable.

She was scared because shadow seemed to had consolidated and become him. But when he came closer, he was just a human like her. Seeing that his clothes were torn, his hair ragged, she offered him some beer and bread.

“Why do you happen to come here?” She asked. In the flickering light from the fire, he looked handsome. It made him more likeable to her, if not anything else.

“There was a village on the town on the coast of Yorkshire, the inhabitants of that village refused to give the King their due taxes because they reasoned that a magician, and a powerful one at that, could create gold from thin airs; they started to scheme with the King’s enemy. One day, the whole village crumbled to ruins. I just came back from that village.”

“I have heard about that. Dreadful, isn’t it? But their actions were irredeemably stupid. The Raven King is a king and a magician; to argue with someone like that surely will lead to dire consequences.”

“Your manner of speech… You are born among commoners, aren’t you?”

She nodded.

“Why did you follow this group?”

“My mother was not married to my father.”

He didn’t say anything. Gradually, she did all the talking. It was not that he was the sort of amiable person that made you wanted to reveal all your secrets. He was the sort of person you knew you were never going to meet again and was too quiet spoken to be able to spill all your secrets. To talk with a stranger had its quirks.

After talking for a while, on the spur of the moment, she took out three rough wooden cup and put them upside down on the floor. Under one cup was a rock. Then she started moving the three cups.

“I bet you do not know which cup contain a thing.”

“You should not be so sure.” The smile on his face was a sure one, containing a hint of arrogance.

“Wanna make a bet? Bet all you have and I will bet mine.”

He was still smiling.

“Fine.”

The cup that first had the thing was in the middle. He chose the one on the left. There was nothing underneath. She smiled then turned the cup on the right. Underneath was a flower, a beautiful flower with blue petals. She gave him the flower and said,

“You can keep all the things you have. You can have this flower, it is a charm.”

O0o

Anne started travelling since she was a child. When she was little kid, she learned a few spells from a village witch. As she grew older, she met all kinds of disreputable magic users such as witches, warlocks in her travels. She came to circuses, the little tents of the people who were reputed to be able to do small charms and spells but had no magical training. Some of their spells worked; some didn’t. Anne learned all the spells that worked and made all the spells that didn’t, worked.

She had talents; her mother knew that but she was fine with her daughter doing a few simple charms. So she continued to do all those tricks even though she secretly yearned for more.

She wanted to do real magic. However, no real magician would teach a woman, especially one born out of wedlock. Catherine of Winchester was an exception but she was not of disreputable birth and there were still many magicians who objected to women’s studying magic. However, she could hear the sound of the wind, the earth, the wild beasts lurking in the forests. And she knew that if she had immersed herself completely in her study, maybe she could have achieved something without a master. Then she could impress somebody and got a magical education. In her dreams, she wished to become a student of the Raven King but that was only a dream. To have a town magician as her tutor was enough for her. But her mother got sick and to make ends meet was difficult in itself. Then her mother was gone a few weeks ago.

On that day, the man with long, black hair and a handsome face had said to her,

“I have been given sing trees and flowers, diamonds made of starlight, pearls made of dews but I have never seen such a beautiful flower. And the spell you used; nothing was more simple, it seemed to be no more than a trick, something that any third-rate magician or even charlatan can use but in execution, in its making, it was so sophisticated, so unusual.”

He went to the broken mirror on the wall; at the waving of his hand, the mirror became as smooth as new and reflected on the mirror was not an abandoned room full of people but a road, a road well-paved, stretching on to forever.

The man, whom his enemies and friends called the Raven King, King of the North, the Black King, who claimed to be John Uskglass, the son of John d’Uskglass, reached out his hand toward her. And she took it and walked on the King’s road.

O0o  
Anne became the King’s student. Now, instead of learning how to make love potion, charms, curses, she focused on learning a wide variety of spells. The price of the studies and being given a place to stay and food to eat was not talking to anybody about what had happened that night. Only until the King had said that did Anne realized that from a poor bastard, she had almost become the queen of Northern England, a kingdom in Faerie and Agrace. And she had thought that he had no property like her.

But those three kingdoms belonged to John Uskglass; a small bet was not going to change that.

Most of the courtiers looked at her with disdain. She felt self-conscious around their presence but she could forget all about them when doing magic.

The King and Anne sometimes walked along the dirt path; he would be teaching her some spells. Then suddenly, all Northern England – earth, air, trees, water- would welcome their King. And magic was on the wings of the bird flying on the sky, on the pebbles scattering on the road, on the golden leaves carried by the wind before touching the ground. Everything would become clear as if all the secret of the universe was right in front of her eyes; she felt as if her chest would burst open because of the intensity of such knowledge. Then suddenly, all was lost and she would forget all about it until the next walk.

She met other magicians, great magicians who could destroy a city with a flick of their finger. She met powerful fairies who could change a country for better or for worse on a sudden thought. Before these people, she felt so small and weak.

Of all the people she had met, the Raven King was the greatest as he had always been and always will be.

Nevertheless, on the night they first met, she had thought that the Raven King was equal to her.

O0o

She had sworn fealty to the King. It felt like the King held her life in his hand and she would rather die than betray him.

On one day, he had given her a silver bracelet. It was a small bracelet with floral patterns; he said this was a lucky charm; he said that he still kept hers.

Following the bracelet was a dance. He held her hands more tightly than usual.

Then came a dress.

A necklace.

A horse.

She was given all kinds of good magical tools that were not usually given to a novice.

They started walking together more regularly and whenever the King and his courtiers went hunting, they rode side by side. Even when all other people rushed after a swift stag, he still refused to leave her side. He was in pursuit of Anne, not the stag.

All courting kept escalating until her closet was filled with silk and jewelries and they spent all spare time together, either studying magic or walking on stone-paved path in the garden.

Winters in northern England were notoriously cold but those days were warm or not too cold.

O0o

Then the King was gone.

He told a servant that he would be back in one day.

But the next day, he hadn’t gone back. Another day passed, he hadn’t gone back.

Another week went by, he had been seen by no one.

Nor was he seen for the entire month.

There were rumors that the King was not coming back: he had met something dangerous or he had become bored of ruling three kingdoms. At present, William of Lanchester, The King’s favored servant, was ruling the kingdoms in his stead, postponing important decisions requiring the King’s opinion.

Anne knew that the King would come back even though he didn’t even bother to tell her anything before he decided to disappear for so long.

She realized that John Uskglass was her only human friend in the entire castle. The fairies took her highly enough but they are whimsical and unreliable as friends. All other humans considered her lowly, unrefined. Male magicians treated her as inferior; they all thought that the only reason she became the King’s student was her prettiness. They were jealous because for such a long time, the King showed partiality toward her. So now, when the King was gone, she was ostracized; she was given no work to do. She had only spells to turn to.

Then came Peter, a man from Carlisle. He had little magical talent but was good with the sword.

John was warm. John was amiable. John was sympathetic and compassionate. He had a whole lot of prejudices like every person but he had kindness.

Nobody could be more different than the Raven King. The Raven King was silent and solemn, he was arrogant and frightfully purposeful. He was unpredictable, whimsical like a fairy. He was everything but warm and human.

Now Peter became her only friend. She talked to him all the time about magic and John Uskglass. Talking about John Uskglass with Peter made her almost forget that she missed him. So she believed she was falling in love with Peter.

O0o

When the King returned, he greeted her as though he hadn’t been gone for a day and a year. William of Lanchester believed that the servant had mistook ‘a day and a year’ for ‘a day’ because the King was generally quiet spoken. Nobody asked the King anything. And the King acted like nothing had happened.

Maybe nothing had happened. Maybe Anne was the only who considered it worse than it actually was.

However, for a time, she had cried until morning.

She, too, asked the King nothing.

One day, the King asked for her hand in marriage.

Anne said she needed to think.

A week ago, Peter had said the same thing to her. She had said yes.

On that night, Peter and Anne ran away from the castle, from Newcastle, from Northern England, from John Uskgglass.

She had studied with John Uskglass for a few years; she had become a relatively competent magician in spite of all the slanders. It was time for the student to part ways with the teacher.

Afterward, she heard a tale about how John Uskglass fell in love with a common Cornish witch and had almost given her his heart, his power and his kingdoms. There was a saying in Northern England that whenever the weather was unseasonable, John Uskglass was in love again and neglected his business.

She recalled all the warm winters walking in the garden with the John Uskglass.


End file.
